by Brad Warner

I’m down in the suburbs of Dallas helping my dad get his house ready to sell. Anybody wanna buy a house in the Dallas suburbs?

Yesterday I watched a rough cut of the documentary Pirooz Kalayeh is making about me. It looks pretty darned good! I think it will be bigger than Hunger Games!

One unfortunate aspect is that Pirooz reached out to some of the people who have been outspoken critics of me in the past, such as Grace Schireson, Peter Schireson, Adam Tebbe and others who I can’t recall off the top of my head. Not one of them was willing to be interviewed for the film. I think only Peter even bothered to respond to the request. I guess it’s not that easy to stand up for what one believes sometimes. I get that. It’s tough. I don’t really blame them. I know how it is. Trust me, I know! But I would have been interested to see that, though, because I don’t like when documentaries are too much of a love fest. Not even when they’re about me.

That was the problem with the doc about Chogyam Trungpa. They pay lip-service to some of the controversy surrounding him. But it would have made for a much better film to actually hear from some of the people who Trungpa’s behavior really pissed off. In Trungpa’s case, the filmmakers seem to have deliberately avoided saying too much bad about their subject. They appear to want to make him a kind of hero.

But Pirooz was willing to let folks say their piece about why I’m such a danger to the dharma or whatever they think. Yet nobody was willing to come forward and stand up for their own deeply held convictions. Ah well. There’s still some thrills in there anyhow.

* * *

You donations to the continuation of this blog are always gratefully accepted. Thank you!

It really moves me that you always remember all moms on Mother’s Day. The descriptions of your Mom and her illness and death in ZEN WRAPPED IN KARMA DIPPED IN CHOCOLATE were brilliant, poignant, and something I will never forget.

Today I was with my family at a restaurant for lunch where it was a Momfest and a half. Everyone was enjoying themselves and we were almost ready to leave when a lady walked past me and I noticed she was wearing a necklace with a gold leaf as pendant, a necklace exactly like one my Mom used to wear and one I’d not seen since she died in 1989. Happy Mom’s Day Mom, and all Moms everywhere!

Brad said:
“But Pirooz was willing to let folks say their piece about why I’m such a danger to the dharma or whatever they think. Yet nobody was willing to come forward and stand up for their own deeply held convictions. Ah well. There’s still some thrills in there anyhow.”

So you are baiting them now…? Be careful.
Karma, even if you dip in chocolate, can be a bitch.

My mother was the child of a man in his forties, who had me at 39. My father was younger than she was by more than a decade, and yet both of them were old enough to know that mother’s day and father’s day were Madison avenue fabrications. We didn’t celebrate, and I guess I am honoring them by being skeptical to this day.

Nevertheless, my sweetheart likes altars with lots of pictures, flowers, and beads, and I like the positive sentiment she has so I have added my mother’s photo to the photo of her with her mom. I’m still working out my relationship to both of my parents, realizing their imperfections in me and how to accept that they are perfections on another scale.

Gotta getta copy of Karma coupious comes uncoupled.

Brad, it’s not that they won’t stand up for what they believe, it’s that they want to show themselves in their best light in front of the public and they sense that talking about you might not be an opportunity for that. It’s like a politician not mentioning his or her opponent, why give the guy or gal free publicity? It’s all about keeping your name in front of the public in a positive context, as far as being a professional.

Earlier today I noticed Noah Levine’s movie on Netflix and was thinking, hmmm, when will they make a movie about Brad? Happy to see this and looking forward to the final cut. I do think Gniz would make a good interview subject, to talk about the comments section on the old blog and the plethora of trolls. I always felt that was a nice phenomenon in that it spoke well of your tolerance for the whole enchilada, warts and all.

It may be a moot issue at this point. Adam Tebbe has announced that he’s taking an “undetermined” sabbatical from the site, and given that he basically is the site, I suppose that might mean that “Sweeping Zen” is taking one as well.

As for the Schiresons, I don’t think they’ve been heard from since their Whispering – sorry, Witnessing Council declared a flawless victory over the 105-year-old guy who wasn’t even in the room.

Sunday 19 is Pentecost. Pentecost is Greek and means 50. Pentecost is 50 days after Easter. This is a feast that commemorates the Apostles, meeting in a restaurant 50 days after Easter. They gather in a room in the restaurant, and while they’re eating, the Holy Ghost comes down upon them in the shape of Tongues of Fire. After that, the first Christian used to take the occasion to go and visit their mother-in-law.

I doubt they are going to give you the free advertising for your documentary. 😉

“One unfortunate aspect is that Pirooz reached out to some of the people who have been outspoken critics of me in the past, such as Grace Schireson, Peter Schireson, Adam Tebbe and others who I can’t recall off the top of my head. Not one of them was willing to be interviewed for the film. I think only Peter even bothered to respond to the request. I guess it’s not that easy to stand up for what one believes sometimes. I get that. It’s tough. I don’t really blame them. I know how it is. Trust me, I know! But I would have been interested to see that, though, because I don’t like when documentaries are too much of a love fest. Not even when they’re about me.”

Oh come now… do you really think there is a feud between you and those 3…?
The only dust up I can recall between you and those folks were in regards to teachers having sex with students – and between the articles each of you wrote, you were the one who’s tone got insulting first. You were also the one who got butt-hurt first and had Adam take all references/pictures off the Sweeping Zen site…

And before people bug out… it was messed up that you Brad got accused of being a predator.
You aren’t a predator.

But it was a damn shame that the two sides couldn’t go: “Woah woah woah… Let’s start this important conversation over. Things are getting a bit too hot and personal.” Instead of having a calm conversation, both sides were like unchangeable iron balls that bounced off in opposite directions when they connected with each other.

Shodo, I’m not interested in resurrecting the fight. I’m interested in seeing this be a balanced documentary. I’d like to see theses folks’ opinions included. Or the opinions of any of the many people who seem to have such strong convictions that I’m such an awful human being. But Pirooz can’t get them to talk.

Fred said:
“Before I have a strong opinion, I would need to know how many women you have
fucked since you became a Zen priest.”

Fred, that has nothing to do with anything – at all.

A better question would be: Do you hook up with female retreatants in the groups you lead/ guest teacher in.

It may not be anyone’s business but Brad’s… but it may be a worthwhile question that Brad could ask to himself.
It’s always useful to know if a person has valid reasons for their points of view, and not just getting self-defensive because the point of view being criticized is an accurate description of their behavior.

Brad said:
“Shodo, I’m not interested in resurrecting the fight. I’m interested in seeing this be a balanced documentary. I’d like to see theses folks’ opinions included. Or the opinions of any of the many people who seem to have such strong convictions that I’m such an awful human being. But Pirooz can’t get them to talk.”

While I cannot obviously answer for any of the people Pirooz has or has not managed to contact about appearing in the documentary, I can think of a couple of reasons why someone might not be interested in being interviewed for a documentary about something or someone they feel strongly (and not in a good way) about, or have in the past:
1) They don’t want to give any publicity or credibility to the documentary / issue by being involved in it.
2) They are not sure how their statements would be represented in the final edition, especially if they view Pirooz as a close buddy of yours.
x) Pirooz’s message simply didn’t get through (to those who didn’t answer). Sometimes it’s easy for an email or a letter to get lost in all the mail, or forgotten if there’s something urgent to deal with.

I do hope he’s managed to interview some of the other dharma heirs and students of Nishijima, with whom you’ve had your share of differences in the past too.

A few things on why I never responded to Pirooz’s inquiry. For one, I was going through a really difficult time and was heading to Upaya in New Mexico for my own reasons. I wasn’t maintaining my own website during that time, much less considering participating in a documentary about you, Brad. And yes, what mika said above are things that certainly did cross my mind.

How would my words be represented? What would precede any footage of what I might have had to say to frame the issue at hand? Would the framing itself be accurate? What would follow it?

Also, let’s say a personal friend of mine were doing a documentary on Sweeping Zen – would you participate, trusting that we would accurately reflect the events and your views? I seriously doubt you would, as you seem to not trust the way the website allowed articles to be published in the first place. What happened is there in the public domain for people to read if they wish. I’ve made my views known on it all both publicly and privately with you. I just don’t have much of anything to say about it today. I have a site to run and others to interview. Everyone said what I believe they needed to on the subject, didn’t they? Each of us wrote what we wanted to on it all, and Pirooz is free to use any of that.

I mean would you participate in a documentary on Grace or Peter? I doubt the two would even entertain the idea of having such a documentary done on themselves as a personality, anyway. Maybe on Zen practice as a whole – I could see that. Anyway, best of luck to you in your endeavors. You always have an open invite to participate again at Sweeping Zen. I’m sorry to not have you.